Charity day shoot is a hoot

This year’s annual fundraising day at Richard and Tanya Faulds’ Owls Lodge Shooting School raised over �6,000 for charity.

The Brainstrust Cancer Charity means a lot to the Faulds family – Richard’s father Bruce was a victim of the aggressive disease – and the event was well attended by friends, family and those looking for a good day’s shooting.

This year had the added bonus of being one of the regional qualifying rounds for the recently rejuvenated Starshot competition, with John Bridges and his team’s great Trap set-up. There were plenty of interested parties, from those who had shot it when it was previously on the circuit, to newcomers who had grown up watching the likes of Ian Botham and AJ Smith fight it out on TV and embraced the chance to try it out for themselves.

John Heagren shot an impressive 71 to take an early lead that looked likely to stand despite the efforts of GB Double Trap team members Steve Scott and Chester Cobb, though in the end Don Brunt pipped John to the post with a 72 that saw him go through to the finals.

Elsewhere, over 150 entrants pitted themselves against the Owls Lodge Sporting course in search of the win – and this time Heagren wasn’t going to be robbed, taking the win with a near perfect 49 despite being chased hard by a quality field.

For those who fancied something a little different, Hunter had sponsored a welly-throwing contest, but the main focus of the day was to raise much-needed funds for Brainstrust. A silent auction of some very special shooting items included a signed picture of Peter Wilson and Richard Faulds that made �400, as well as days out shooting, tuition and pretty much everything you could think of.

For more info, visit: www.owlslodgeshootingschool.co.uk